The pope is considered by Roman Catholics to be the apostolic successor of Saint Peter and is the earthly head of the Roman Catholic Church, which has more than 1.2 billion followers.

The procedure of the conclave for choosing the Pope is the oldest ongoing method for choosing the leader of any institution.

To elect the new Pope, the entirety of the College of Cardinals is required to attend the Conclave at the Sistine Chapel.

The cardinals began the process Tuesday afternoon by filing into the Sistine Chapel. After the doors closed, they heard a meditation by an elderly Maltese cardinal and were then expected to cast their first ballots.

The cardinals held the first day of the conclave on Tuesday to select a new Pope following the stunning resignation of Pope Benedict XVI.
The Vatican made clear it did not expect a winner on the first ballot.

Black smoke emerged from the Sistine Chapel chimney, signaling that cardinals have failed to elect a pope on their first try, in St. Peter's Square at the Vatican on Tuesday.

When White Smoke emerges from the Sistine Chapel chimney means that Cardinals have successfully selected the new Pope.

A group of women who say they are priests launched pink smoke from a balcony overlooking the square to demand female ordination.

Pink Smoke females want more rights.

Now the cardinals return to the Vatican’s Santa Marta hotel for the night.

They return to the Apostolic Palace for Mass on Wednesday morning and a new round of voting.

Until the selection of new Pope Cardinals are allowed to travel only from the Vatican hotel through the gardens to the Sistine Chapel and back until they have elected a pope.
No telephones, no newspapers, no television, no tweeting.

What is Papal Conclave?

A Papal Conclave is a meeting of the College of Cardinals, which is convened to elect a new Bishop of Rome, also known as the Pope.

This generally happens after the office of the Pope has been left vacant either by his death as in the case of Pope John Paul II in April 2005 or the resignation of Pope Benedict XVI in February 2013.

When the Catholic Church needs a new Pope, Normally Pope serves until his death but for the first time since 1415, the Pope retired.

The College of Cardinals meets in isolation in the Sistine Chapel to choose the New Pope.
Only those Cardinals under the age of 80 are eligible to participate.

The Cardinals may elect any Baptized Catholic Male, but since 1389, a fellow Cardinal has always been elected Pope.

The meeting of the Cardinals is called the Papal Conclave.

Conclave in Latin means - Room that may be locked up
The Cardinals have to elect from among themselves a Pope and are not allowed to leave the conclave till they have elected one.

Cardinals are sworn to secrecy as they vote under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, the third person in the Triune Godhead that Christian believe in.

On the day of the conclave the Cardinals hear two sermons before the election:

one before they enter the conclave,
and one once they are settled in the Sistine Chapel.

Both sermons are meant to lay out the current state of the Church

On the morning of the day designated by the Congregations of Cardinals, the Cardinal electors will assemble in St Peter's Basilica to celebrate the Eucharist.

Then, they gather in the afternoon in the Pauline Chapel of the Palace of the Vatican, proceeding to the Sistine Chapel while they sing the Veni Creator Spiritus.

The Cardinals then take an oath to observe the procedures set down by the apostolic constitutions to, if elected, defend the liberty of the Holy See; to maintain secrecy; and to disregard the instructions of secular authorities on voting.

The Cardinal Dean then reads the oath aloud in full in order of precedence, the other cardinal electors merely state, while touching the Gospels, that they "do so promise, pledge and swear."

Secrecy is maintained during the conclave; the Cardinals as well as the conclavists and staff are forbidden to disclose any information relating to the election.

Cardinal electors are not allowed to communicate with anyone outside the conclave, by post, radio, telephone or otherwise and eavesdropping is an offense punishable by excommunication latae sententiae.

a cardinal who leaves for any reason other than illness cannot return to the conclave.

On the day of the voting the Cardinals write a name on the ballot paper saying "Eligo in Summum Pontificem" which means "I elect as Supreme Pontiff" with the person’s name.

Before casting the ballot, each Cardinal elector takes a Latin oath, which translates in English as "I call as my witness Christ the Lord who will be my judge, that my vote is given to the one who before God I think should be elected."

After all the votes are cast they are counted.

If the number of ballots does not correspond to the number of cardinal electors present, the ballots are burnt, unread, and the vote is repeated.

If, however, no irregularities are observed, the ballots may be opened and the votes counted.

Each ballot is unfolded and the name of the person written on the vote is written down.

The name is then read aloud.

Once all of the ballots have been opened, the final post-scrutiny phase begins.

The votes are all added up and the revisers selected check the ballots and the names on the lists to ensure that no error was made.

The ballots are then all burnt.

If the first scrutiny held in any given morning or afternoon does not result in an election, the Cardinals proceed to the next scrutiny immediately; the papers from both scrutinizes are burnt together at the end of the second scrutiny.

The color of the smoke signals the results to the people assembled in St Peter's Square.

Black smoke signals indicate that the ballot did not result in an election,

While white smoke signals announce that, a new Pope was chosen.

Originally, damp straw was added to the fire to create dark smoke but beginning in 1963 coloring chemicals were added, and from 2005 bells started to ring after a successful election, to supplement the white smoke, this helps especially if the white smoke is not clearly seen.

Every morning and afternoon The Cardinals Vote.
For the first 30 votes, it takes a two-thirds majority plus 1, for a successful vote.
After 30 votes, a simple majority is all that is required.

For Each Vote, The Cardinals are given a card to write their vote.
Cardinals write the name for whom they vote, after that one by one, the cardinals place their Cards in a Chalice at the Altar.

After each vote, the Ballots are burned.
Special Chemicals are added to make the smoke Black or White.

If the vote is inconclusive, no candidates receives enough votes the smoke is Black.

When one of the Cardinals receives enough votes, the smoke is white.

The smoke can be seen by the crowds outside the Chapel.

This is the only way public knows that Pope is selected or not.

The Cardinal who secures more than two-thirds of the votes is elected and then is asked if he accepts his office as Supreme Pontiff, he can chose to decline if he wishes.

Once he accepts, he may choose a new name or keep his own name.
He also has to choose his seal and coat of arms.

Later, the new Pope goes to the "Room of Tears", a small red room next to the Sistine Chapel.

The Pope dresses himself, choosing a set of pontifical choir robes (white cassock, rochet and red mozzetta) from three sizes provided.

Then, he vests in a gold corded pectoral cross and a red embroidered stole.

He wears a white zucchetto on his head.

The Cardinal Deacon who has been selected to announce the new Pope appears at the main balcony of the basilica's façade to proclaim the new pope with the Latin phrase:

Which is translated in English to: "I announce to you a great joy:
We have a Pope!
The Most Eminent and Most Reverend Lord,
Lord [forename],
Cardinal of the Holy Roman Church [surname],
who takes to himself the name [papal name].

The new Pope appears on the balcony of the papal palace and gives his first blessing and address to the millions of faithful Catholics who gather to catch a glimpse of this historic moment.

Black Smoke and White Smoke Mixture Chemicals formula How Smoke is created

In olden times they used to involve mixing wet straw with the ballots to produce white smoke,
and pitch to create black smoke.

The idea behind the wet straw is to keep the fuel from burning completely.
The incomplete burning produces the particles of carbon needed for dark colored smoke
wet straw gives you gray smoke, not black smoke this sometimes confuses the people regarding color of smoke.

The black smoke, which was used Tuesday evening to signal that no one in the first round of balloting received the necessary two-thirds vote of the 115 cardinals, uses potassium perchlorate and anthracene (a component of coal tar), with sulfur as the fuel. Potassium chlorate and perchlorate are related compounds, but perchlorate is preferred in some formulations because it is more stable and safer.

The white smoke, used to announce the election of a new pope, combines potassium chlorate, milk sugar (which serves as an easily ignitable fuel) and pine rosin

The chemicals are electrically ignited in a special stove first used for the conclave of 2005,

The stove sits in the Sistine Chapel next to an older stove in which the ballots are burned;

the colored smoke and the smoke from the ballots mix and travel up a long copper flue to the chapel roof, where the smoke is visible from St. Peter’s Square.

A resistance wire is used to preheat the flue so it draws properly, and the flue has a fan as a backup to ensure that no smoke enters the chapel.

Meaning of Cardinal Explained Cardinal

A cardinal is a senior ecclesiastical official, usually an ordained bishop, and ecclesiastical prince of the Catholic Church.

Cardinals are collectively known as the College of Cardinals, which as a body elects a new pope.

The duties of the cardinals include attending the meetings of the College and making themselves available individually or in groups to the pope if he requests their counsel.

Most cardinals have additional duties, such as leading a diocese or archdiocese or running a department of the Roman Curia.

A cardinal's other main function is electing the pope whenever, by death or resignation, the seat becomes vacant.

In 1059, the right of electing the pope was reserved to the principal clergy of Rome and the bishops of the seven-suburbicarian sees.

During the sede vacante, the period between a pope's death or resignation and the election of his successor, the day-to-day governance of the Church as a whole is in the hands of the College of Cardinals.

The right to enter the conclave of cardinals who elect the pope is now limited to those who have not reached the age of 80 years on the day of the pope's death or resignation.